Journal Junction for April 3

April 3, 2012

Editor's note: Journal Junction offers the public a forum to applaud successes, discuss issues, point out problems and review the events of the day in a constructive manner. Journal Junction comments should be limited to two to four sentences. Longer comments should be submitted as "Letters to the Editor," which is a separate forum. The Journal's classified ads section offers help to those with lost or found items. This is a sampling of comments received today. All others, subject to editing, are published in the online Journal Junction at www.journal-news.net under opinions.

From Berkeley Springs:

That was a great photograph of the Hedgesville boys basketball team. Such a change from high school kids showing up for school photos in sloppy mismatched T-shirts and jeans. If those boys knew how handsome they look in their suits and ties, they would never wear anything else!

From Berkeley County:

I think Mr. R.T. Miller has it right on solving the jail overcrowding. I had worked shift work for 40-some years, and the only thing is that it does have an effect on your health when you get older, but these inmates aren't doing any work. They are just lounging around and they get perfect medical care while they are in the jail. They should have no problems being in a shift situation, and it will solve our overpopulating of the prisons.

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From Bunker Hill:

Tickets for the Musselman Alumni banquet, April 21, are still on sale at Central Bank in Inwood.

From Martinsburg:

Is somebody who owns a little farmette in the Berkeley County area missing a little guinea hen? There is one running loose near the Eagle Run Point townhomes. It has been loose for about three days, and I feel real bad for it. I'm afraid something is going to happen to it, so if anyone has lost a guinea hen, it is running loose around the area of the Eagle Run Point townhomes.

From Inwood:

Bless the North Mountain protestors for fighting for healthy water rights. Why should one mine company be given the right to destroy Berkeley County's water? Inwood already has a flooding problem, but now it is going to have dirty flooded water.

From Berkeley County:

I was impressed by the charitable gesture by the North Mountain protestors who gave up their Saturday for our community's benefit. Only the out-of-state mining company will make advances if a strip mine comes to town. Companies like this prey on depressing neighborhoods by lowering property values with their destruction, then they buy the land, pennies on the dollar, and reap the profit.

From Jefferson County:

Recently I called the governor's office and the offices of my state delegate and senator to ask them what they were doing to lower the price of gasoline here in West Virginia. I left messages for all of them. None of them have called me back. I will remember that when I vote in the next election.

From Charles Town:

To callers here who want to draw attention away from the Martin-Zimmerman case by asking why there is no similar cry for justice in black on white cases: I say exactly! Where is the justice in the murder of black Marine Corps veteran Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. by white police officers in White Plains, N.Y.? This case is every bit as horrendous as what went down in Florida. You can help support this case by insisting that we longer allow police misconduct, brutality or criminality to happen in any community in the U.S. - whether it be in the South or North, East or West, by signing this petition at signon.org/sign/justice%2Dfor%2Dkenneth%2Dchamberl?source=mo&id=38418-22136908-kDG7asx.

From Leetown:

The nonsense spouted about Rush Limbaugh by the Jefferson caller is undeniably false. To say that Rush has lost none of his audience and only two of his advertisers is simply not true. To say such only confirms that Rush appeals to the lowest form of society: the blamers and haters. People who feel like that have a right to be rich because they are men and white.

From Bunker Hill:

To the caller from Hedgesville who argues we are worse off under Obama, simple question: How much was your 401K plan worth in 2006?

From Charles Town:

If the Supreme Court does not strike down Obamacare, it will be guilty of judicial activism. The high court should strike down Obamacare because it should be struck down, and if the justices do not play politics they will do the right thing and reverse this law.

From Bunker Hill:

When will Berkeley County Schools let us parents see the draft of the 2012-2013 school calendar? I hope it posts it soon on its website. Jefferson County has already done so.

From Shepherdstown:

It's kind of sad. When I was growing up a long time ago, the Supreme Court was revered. Now it is just nine more politicians, but with a lot more power.

From Martinsburg:

It's obvious that the caller from Hedgesville is not aware that one of the longest studies ever to look at the impact of red meat on health was just published and reports that any amount and ... type of red meat significantly increases the risk of premature death. The 20-year study, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, expected to find processed meat, like hot dogs or bacon, were bad for your health, and they did link consumption with a 20 percent higher risk of death during the study. To their surprise, however, they also found that adding just one three-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat ... was associated with a 13 percent greater chance of dying during the course of the study. I'd suggest that the caller eat a few more salads and a few less servings of meat and bacon.

From Hedgesville:

Good news! Congressional Democrats are quietly directing staff members to organize an effort to pass Medicare-for-all legislation in the event the Supreme Courts strikes down the individual mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act.

From Falling Waters:

Rush Limbaugh, not surprisingly, is attempting to minimize the damage regarding the loss of advertisers following his vile and intemperate remarks about Sandra Fluke. He's busy telling you most of the companies that have pulled adverts are local, but even a quick glance at the list - JCPenney, Sears, Geico, Quicken Loans, Netflix, etc. - shows that's not so. When a person spends a good deal of time explaining to you what's "not happening" (we're not losing money here ... they're not canceling business on our stations, etc.), it's because what is happening is particularly sensitive to them, and they don't want you to focus on it.

From Berkeley Springs:

GOP Rep. Paul Ryan: "I really 'misspoke' when I said the generals were lying." I'm confused. Is he lying when he says he misspoke - or did he just "misspeak" again?